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TITLE 25HEALTH SERVICES
PART 1DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
CHAPTER 97COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
SUBCHAPTER ACONTROL OF COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
RULE §97.13Death of a Person with Certain Communicable Diseases

(a) If a physician has knowledge that a person had, at the time of death, a communicable disease listed in subsection (c) of this section, then the hospital administrator, clinic administrator, nurse, or the physician shall affix or cause to be affixed a tag on the body, preferably the great toe.

(b) The tag shall be on card stock paper and shall be no smaller than five centimeters by ten centimeters. The tag shall include the words "COMMUNICABLE DISEASE--BLOOD/BODY SUBSTANCE PRECAUTIONS REQUIRED" in letters no smaller than six millimeters in height. The name of the deceased person shall be written on the tag. The tag shall remain affixed to the body until the preparation of the body for burial has been completed.

(c) Diseases that shall require tagging are acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); anthrax; brucellosis; cholera; Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; hepatitis, viral; human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; novel coronavirus; novel influenza; plague; prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD); Q fever; rabies; Rocky Mountain spotted fever; smallpox; syphilis; tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex); tularemia; and viral hemorrhagic fever.

(d) All persons should routinely practice standard infection control procedures when performing postmortem care on a deceased person who is known or suspected of having a communicable disease listed in subsection (c) of this section.


Source Note: The provisions of this §97.13 adopted to be effective June 5, 2007, 32 TexReg 2997; amended to be effective April 3, 2016, 41 TexReg 2317; amended to be effective April 2, 2017, 42 TexReg 1452

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